I think someone should create a place to go for people newly diagnosed to learn how to deal with it. Its pretty insane how you start peeing too much , go half blind get real sick then get a few days in the hospital and sent home to be your own doctor drawing blood and injecting some pretty dangerous stuff.
Insurance of course would not want to pay for inpatient training so my idea is to label it as a mental health facility specializing in people with diabetes and bill insurance for the treatment of anxiety and depression, conditions that naturally follow a major diagnosis such as type one. Its not dishonest at all.
Inpatient psych places get to charge like $1000 a day
There is a HUGE difference from one facility to another.
All facilities are not the same.
All doctors are not the same.
Unfortunately one does not always have six months advance notice to spend hours and hours and hours of research finding the best possible options.
We got lucky.
Flip of the coin on where to go for initial DX which was already a very bad situation so the decision had to be made (literally) in 30 seconds.
We made the best possible choice.
Ended up staying for a week. They didn’t send us home until both they and we were satisfied that we could handle things ourselves with phone support and a three month followup. At the time, that was the only thing I knew so simply assumed that was how it was everywhere. Unfortunately it has since become blatantly obvious that many facilities simply do not provide the initial level of education required.
They have this for kids, its called Camp NeedlePoint and is very well known.
As far as adults go, I agree with you - there should be something similar.
We should find you our common resources list. There’s a bunch of stuff that people commonly recommend to Newbies. I see groups that meetup at my local hospital. I would call the hospital near you and ask them. We will try and post some stuff here.
Your being very proactive. It unfortunate that resources have not been provided to you. Its troubling indeed. Indiana | ADA
Note: Take everything with a grain of salt. People have different opinions. Everyone is different. But, its good to know the lay of the land. People commonly recommend these four resources, as a starting point:
I agree - and though it was many years ago, I’m a case in point. I was diagnosed at the hospital after severe symptoms appeared. I had maybe 2 days total training from a nurse before I left for college and all but ignored it. I didn’t even see a doctor for the next 10 years. When I finally did, it was for an non-diabetic issue and it was a rude awakening - 13 A1c. I’ve been diligent since then, but what a difference it would have made if I received adequate training right after diagnosis.
I went to diabetes camp 2 months after diagnosis and continued to go until I was 17, but it was definitely geared towards kids. I looked it up recently because I thought I might volunteer to be a camp counselor (the timing/dates didn’t work out) and they do offer family camp in my area (bay area). They say anyone can come and bring their families to connect with other diabetics, participate in workshops, and teach their families about this disease. I personally have not gone to family camp because I was already going on week long trips away from my parents when I was 11, and they did not want to deal with the diabetes, so I just went straight for the staying over weeklong camp. However, if family camp is even a fraction as good as the stay away camps, it would be worth it. I’ll probably try it when my child is old enough, but at the moment, my husband knows more than either of my parents, and I’m comfortable with his and my level of knowledge.
